Christopher James Rowland

Teaches at Sacred Arts Research Foundation

Christopher James Rowland is a painter and musician born “Ma'heonehoo'estse” (Man from Holy Place), and was raised on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation, at Lame Deer, Montana. His family heritage is Northern Cheyenne (Tsitsistas) and Lakota.

Christopher began his commercial oil painting career at the age of 15. In 1987, the young artist appeared as "White Cloud," a vision character, in his first feature film, "Pow Wow Highway." The film won Best Director, Best Picture, and Best Actor awards from the Native American Film Festival. Christopher made additional artistic contributions to the film by painting the film’s classic car prop, Philbert's War Pony, "The Protector."

His artwork mentors have included Jack Hines and Jessica Zemsky; Neil Parsons, a Blackfoot Indian, abstract artist, and professor of fine art; and the world-renowned Howard Terpning. In 2006, Christopher was appointed Cultural Ambassador for the Northern Cheyenne Nation. He served in that post for two years.